A Messy Scheme
by BloodInkLilacQuill
Summary: Artemis's father just got back from being held prisoner but not all is well in his head. Butler finds out he has a 14yr old daughter who has a hidden past and Artemis has angered a mafia leader. Above it all Artemise's father wants to fire Butler!
1. Dilemmas

**Updated and being corrected/rewritten! I have split the chapters up so as to correct them faster, updates are now daily until I get back to where I was before, then possibly weekly... I have changed quite a few scenes, plots and I even added way more Artemis.  
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**Also! I have changed my name! Yes you are not seeing things I really have, thank you for not mentioning it!  
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**GOOD QUESTIONS!**

Mary-Sue? Definitely, **not** a mary-sue, she will NEVER start liking any of the main characters and they won't her, accept her father as a daughter and possibly everyone else, as a FRIEND. No romances! That's why this isn't posted as a romance story.

Troll? No, this is not a troll. I have completed many of the chapters and plan on posting them, about once a week Im thinking, though other suggestions are welcome for sooner.

**I am also editing the first few chapters and may be moving the chapters around a bit, sorry for the inconvenience.**

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Chapter 1

It was a dark rainy day at the manor, Butler was outside checking a car for 'security interests'. Artemis junior had recently ticked off the head of a rather large and dangerous gang and it was Butler's job to keep the family safe, whilst they remained ignorant of the current threats to their lives. The Fowls, at least the parents were waiting by the door. A guest had called just 10 minutes prior to announce her arrival, she had not said why she was coming, or anything other than her name which had turned out to be a social worker from Canada, originally she was from India and her record was pretty clean other than a few unpayed parking tickets. What would a social worker from Canada be doing here?

A soft knock sounded and in came a business-like woman. She was dressed in a soft pink suit that had seen better days, it looked like it was the same suit she'd been wearing since Canada and had taken a nap or three in. Over top her pin skirt, blouse and matching coat, she had on a man's dark trench coat belonging to Butler. She passed back both the coat he had given her and her own, revealing a pretty baby pink blouse, old style with a Victorian neckline. She didn't give Butler a single look, instead she kept her eyes on the Fowls. She didn't lose her frown either, in fact it grew as she pulled out a clipboard from a shoulder-pack to her right. Behind her came a pale kid wearing jeans, a black hoody done almost all the way up, and a jean jacket dark with rain water. The hood covered her head in an attempt to escape the rain, and she bore dark circles of stress and exhaustion under her eyes, she didn't pull the hood down or acknowledge the room in any particular way. She was about thirteen in appearance but despite her age she was almost six feet tall making her tower over the little woman ahead of her.

"Right, Mr...Butler?" She looked at Mr Fowl, Butler was already gone to the coat-rack to hang up both of their coats, he paused momentarily before finishing with the coats. The social worker however, didn't give anyone the chance to say or correct anything. "Five weeks ago, your... er Morissa Clareson, and her husband David Clareson died in a car crash. Leaving behind her four children, one of which is your daughter." She gestured to the kid in a flippant manner. "Now the Clareson grandmother has agreed to take two of the four children due to lack of room and expenses. The eldest is in the army so it is only the one." She gestured once again to the kid. The teenager behind her clearly eyed warily and observantly, from his false leg up to his hair and then to his eyes. "It was Morissa's last wish that you not be disturbed, given your occupation but the situation calls for your 'being bothered' as one might say." She looked amused at herself for a moment before coming back to business.

"She can't stay here," Said Butler from behind them.

The little woman nearly jumped out of her skin as she spun around and looked at the hulking giant. "Excuse me? Who are you."

"I am Butler." The teenager visibly sighed in relief.

"Oh thank God!" The kid was glared at by everyone there. "There is no way my father's under six feet, I had to get this tall from someone and it certainly wasn't my mother's side." There was an awkward silence for a moment before Butler burst out laughing, he certainly remembered her mother now, short as anything, and very petite, he had once seen a photo of her family, not one was above five feet. Then he stopped, oh yes, he remembered Marissa, they had had a fling 18 years ago, and then they had sort of re-met at that cruise the Fowls had taken, how long ago was that? Artemis had been just a new born... so about 14 years ago? It struck him, oh-oh. No way. In shock, his attention was brought back to the social worker who was saying something.

She turned to look at the girl. "...No one else can have her, they either don't have the finances or the room, but I see you should have enough of both so..." She grabbed the girls shoulder and received a loud smack on the wrist for her efforts, with that she gave a tense smile. "She's all yours" It was clear the worker wanted to be rid of the brat and soon, they obviously didn't like each other. She clicked a pen open before it had even reached the clipboard with the papers and passed it to Butler. "Just sign here, here, there..."

"There has to be somewhere else she can go, Marissa had more than seven brothers and sisters, over thirty cousins not one of them can take her?" He asked as his hand seemed to sign the papers of their own accord. The girl flipped the page to another page and pointed for his signature.

"Nope." He didn't even read what he was absent-mindedly signing.

"Well Im sorry but I can't take her-" He was about to mention his sister who was currently staying in North America after finishing a ring of tournaments last week. She was due for a visit soon and could take the kid. He started at the thought, he didn't even know her name yet, he wasn't even sure she was his, but he was pretty sure she was, at least, she looked the part.

Suddenly the kid was in his face, so fast that he blinked in surprise, a hard feet to accomplish by anyone. "Look, you can't send me away like a parcel. I haven't slept in three day! I have traveled to Mexico, to Spain, to England, back to America, to Scotland to -where on earth am I?" Before the social worker could find it on the clipboard, -to his horror she actually had to check just what country they were in- the answer came from in front of them. The temporarily forgotten Fowl parents.

"Ireland" Said Angeline from the staircase.

"To Ireland, I send out 43 Christmas cards every year to family members, you know how many I've been sent to? 45, this is ridiculous" She spoke with such anger and personality that she resembled Juliette perfectly, no blood test needed, he knew that face anywhere. "Man up, curse whatever god, in whatever religion you believe in and give me a room! Ill give you a moment to curse your lazy stupidity fifteen years ago." She left out the door then, without a backward glance. The room was silent, and Butler contemplated giving the brat a good hard spanking for her mouth, but then, he didn't want their relationship to start with a spanking. She wasn't gone long, in fact she barely had to leave the doorway, her stuff had already been brought to the door by the taxi driver. She slung the backpack over one shoulder and balanced a large heavy-looking douffle bag in the other hand. It became apparent that she wasn't going anywhere when the lady made for the door, papers mostly unsigned. In her hurry, she didn't care if he never signed the rest. She had traveled the world with that brat, and every time she tried to drop her off, the relative gave some fickle excuse or simply, never came home or answered the phone. With each refusal, the kid had gotten more and more mouthy and vicious, it didn't help that they had disliked each other from the very first meeting. No she didn't pity the kids predicament she just wanted away from the brat. There was no training in the world that helped someone deal with a kid like that.

"Wait!" Yelled Butler through the door. The lady ran for it, and the cab took off full speed with a screech from the tires. Slowly he turned around, she had her back to him. She hadn't moved an inch.

"Honey, I think, Butler requires a moment..." Angeline took her husbands hand and they went up the stairs. "She can stay in the room adjacent to your own." He hadn't even known she knew where he slept.

They were left alone together. He turned to face her, she looked like a mix of his mom and his sister, there was no mistaking it, she was even as tall as he was when he was her age. "Come." He lead the way down a hall or two, up a set of stairs. She barely payed any attention. "You have a name?" From around a corner she thought she saw twin pairs of eyes peek then disappear before she could make them out, a shiver crawled up her spine and she had to fight down the urge to shudder it out.

"Clareson" She answered, she turned back to him, just in time to run into him, he had stopped. It was apparent they were there, he turned to her and she jumped back, he gave her a slow once-over look then opened the door, and she peeked in. It had a bed, and under furniture coverings she made out a nightstand, and a little rug at the side to keep your feet warm when you got out of bed. She walked in, no closet but instead a dresser with a mirror, which were both covered with white sheets to save them from dust. The walls were a soft blue but otherwise it had no personality at all, it was a far cry from her colourful room at home. She put her bags on the rug and fell into the bed.

Butler watched her drop her bags down from the door jam, the bed was bare, and the furniture, covered. He left for the closet down the hall, which had extra blankets and sheets. When he returned she was already in bed, fully clothed and apparently asleep. Hadn't slept in three days she said, she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks and the stress of it clung to her face gravely. She hadn't removed any of the coverings for the furniture, hadn't even taken off her hiking boots or pulled down her hood or even taken off her jacket. He contemplated what to do with the stranger, then hesitantly threw the blanket over her and put the sheets on the dresser after taking off the covering, he took all the coverings off, she didn't stir once. He went back to his duties for the rest of the evening.

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**So how did you like it? Were there any inconsistencies? Was it an easy read or a hard one? Did the plot pick up your interest? Please know that this story is not only about Butlers' daughter, it has Artemis and Butler and everyone else in it as well and they will be doing their own plots and schemes. :)**

**So please R&R. This was not meant as an OOC (Out of Character) story so if there is anything you could never see the characters doing please feel free to speak up. For Butler, I believe that is how he would react to a sudden surprise like that, at least I've seen a lot of people meet their fathers and vice-versa and that is more what their meeting is like, based off what I have seen in similar situations, Butler doesn't seem the type to demand a paternity test right off if you get what I mean.**

**Thanks for your time and thank you for reading my story!**  
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~_****BloodInkLilacQuill**

**Updated! After getting some good criticism I have updated my story following the advice from my first two reviewers. I want to thank them now with a private message that everyone can see. :)'**

**Tiasanaa: She's almost as tall as he was, to keep her a like to Butler. She is more around six feet not seven though.** **(Before you say 'thats impossible' please know that I was 5'6 at the age of fourteen, and I was not even the tallest in the history of the tall fourteen-year-old in my family which does include one 6'6 uncle who has been the same height since he was eleven.)**  
**Scheme (****For my intents and purposes,) means and I quote, 'an elaborate and systematic plan of action'**  
**hope this helps :) And as for the grammar, is my grammar bad to you? Perhaps its my accent? Canadian... Anyways, don't like it? Become my Beta Reader! Or change your accent to Canadian... but I think Beta Reader would be easier...**

**FoalyWinsForever: No this is not a troll, in fact most of the chapters are completed already and simply need polishing, though if you would like, you can be my beta reader to ensure good quality and the use of shorter words, :)**

**MtzBen: Of course I love a good criticism, you made me realize that my shift button was broken, see with every criticism you learn something new. Every sentence, isn't that a bit dramatic? But I get the picture, I got really inspired to write this story and I wanted to get as much done as I could then I uploaded it and corrected the mistakes. It was the uploading and correcting that did me in, LOL**

**Todd: Always a pleasure**

**Cielo Crimson: Thanks! We Pm'd and so all's good now ;)**

**NothingPersonal: Issues, Dilemmas = tomato, uh... tomAto I just write how my spell check tells me ;D  
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**Thank you for the reviews guys n girls!**

**BloodInkLilacQuill**


	2. ReWritten 2

**I apologize for how long the next chapter took, I now have a Bet-Reader! The only thing is she takes FOREVER to read my work, due to time restraints but she had some really nice ideas, such as this chapter which didn't exist before, I agree that a 'slow' chapter to help get into the characters was a good idea but to keep it from getting boring I also added in a few pieces of the plot, I hope it didn't give anything away, my beta reader hasn't read this yet, when she does and she sends me a corrected copy, I will re-post the chapter with the corrections, and of course anything you have to say will be taken into heavy consideration!**

**Of course, I don't own anything blah blah blah, buy lots Eion Colfer books because he is the inspiration for this story that makes me absolutely no money at all, but was written based off of characters and ideas that were not my own (accept characters and plots that are not familiar to any of Eion Colfer's works)**

**This chapter is dedicated to Todd, because you are sweet and kind and read my story with both positivity and negativity, which I can respect, although you hate this genre you still gave it a chance and that is very polite of you. You rock! Now... onto the chapter!  
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Chapter 2

4:12, AM Same day

Artemis was in the midst of working on his latest project, his second submarine. The first was already almost complete, all the planning was done and it was already almost ready to 'sail'. It was scheduled to be complete by the end of the week. When Butler came in, Artemis was on the phone, firing someone apparently.

"You should have been honest" There was a pause. "No it would not have mattered for you but you would have saved my precious time so that I would have hired someone more appropriate... no, megalodon research is not what the submarine was designed for." He hung up and rubbed his forehead with stress. He looked for a moment, much older then his 14 years. He looked up and seeming to notice Butler for the first time he turned in his chair and templed his figures. "Are they suspicious?" He knew there was a reason for Butlers' presence and it wasn't to 'check up' on him.

"No, They don't suspect a thing." Butler replied, then, "My daughter will be staying with us for a little while."

"You don't have a daughter." Artemis kept his eyes steady and unblinking much like a vampire king in his throne, no wonder he scared people off.

"Oh I see." He replied, losing the vampire-like image momentarily with a thoughtful look. "She's a bodyguard, good thinking, she can guard the family when we're away."

Before Butler could say anything Artemis's phone rang and he spun in the chair to catch it. The conversation was done apparently, as Butler turned to leave Artemis covered the mouthpiece "She'll be the twins' new nanny." He went silent listening to the other end of the phone and Butler left with a silent nod. He did not have to wonder why Artemis was still on the phone at such a late... or early time. It had become habitual ever since his father had come back, business could not be completed in a simple day so it often carried on into the night, and then often into the morning as well.

Artemis watched Butler leave, oblivious to the conversation that was going on right before his eyes. As Butler closed the door behind him, Artemis's heart started to race, his mouth was dry and his palms sweaty. He wanted desperately to call his friend back into the room, if only for the support, but he knew it was not in anyone's best interest to bring the manservant into this.

"We don't need Butler anymore, we're safe now and frankly, after your latest projects we can't afford him." Came his father's voice from the phone. They had been discussing it for over two months, in private and the only thing private away from Butler was their private in-house line. A line that went from his parents' room to his room, and only from there. They could have ordered Butler away and gone into a private room but both preferred to discuss this over the phone rather then face-to face, it was a mutual decision that had never been discussed, simply assumed.

"You know that these projects are going to pay for themselves ten-fold very soon, the first sub will be completed in a matter of days-"

"...And when its done we still won't require his services, think about it. Its all legalized, no one wants to hurt us anymore, we are no where near as powerful as we were ten years ago, and I want it that way, there are no bounty-hunters or kidnappers that are interested now, there is no use for him. "

Artemis almost laughed to himself, they needed Butler more than ever and he couldn't even tell his father because he wouldn't believe him after this. Even if he did believe it all he would do is cancel the projects, which he had done before on a plane Artemis had designed and had made partially himself. Artemis had skipped out on just a few 'legals' but his father had refused to hear it and canceled the whole thing, costing the family millions, this project would cost the family everything if his father canceled it, and his father was very likely to do it. His new motto of doing it right was costing the family its fortune, he was right to say that they were no where near as powerful as before, they were no where near as powerful as last year let alone ten years ago.

"We can't let him go, he's been with me since the day I was born." He said, trying for guilt, it was petty but all other arguments had been shot down and it was his last card for now. Aweful, what Artemis had become, using silly children's tactics rather then the greater schemes he was accustomed to. What choice did he have? He was no longer permitted to use 'big words' and 'tactics' he wasn't even allowed to use the word 'procrastination' without his father hanging up on him mid sentence.

Frustrated his father replied, "Don't try that on me, he may be your friend but lets see how long he stays after the money stops flowing into his pockets?" With that he hung up.

Artemis rubbed his eyes and got up, he needed a shower, he decided and went into his private bath. He looked at himself in the mirror, the dark circles made even darker by his pale skin, his hair well kept, as always. But his face itself, every line, every pore, screamed of stress. It baffled him that now that his father was home the stress had tripled instead of lessening. His fathers' need to 'purify' their finances was breaking their power into bits, possibly soon it would turn into an almost bankrupting situation, he didn't know.

That was another problem, he was just not told anything about the Fowl finances anymore and he was forced to resort to hacking into computers and asking for the finances he was accustomed to simply taking. It was a major adjustment to him. He turned away from the mirror and took his shirt off...

Perhaps he could call Holly and see if she could possibly see his father again. Artemis was not a person to trust solely on intuition but he could just feel it, something was not right.

_Butler_

Butler went down to talk to a few contacts, maybe they would know more about this, new situation. He called a detective living in Florida, the detective owed him a favour and considered himself to be a close friend of Butlers'. He was also kept up to speed on the newest scandal Artemis had caused because he was part of it.

"She's after something, its too good a story, and right after our disagreement with _him_?" He turned around in his chair and began typing on the computer, "Strange, you say this was 5 weeks ago? There isn't anything here on it, do you know where she lived? Where the crash took place?" Sadly, he didn't, he had re-met Marissa on a cruise to her betrothed, David Clarence, they had rekindled their relationship sort to speak. She had turned up at his doorstep one night wanting to 'talk', he hadn't even known she was on the same ship before that let alone where she had come from though he supposed he could have checked it out.

He had been so absorbed in guarding his new charge who was only a babe at the time, traveling for the first time outside with his parents. They had a great two weeks in which they left each other content, her to be married and him to guard Artemis. He hadn't heard a thing from her since and had never bothered looking her up. When he had first met her, he had been on a military base, why she was there had simply never come up though he thought she worked somewhere on the base he couldn't be sure. Thinking back, he didn't know very much about her at all, they had only known each other a few weeks before they had gone their separate ways, him to train new troops and her, to wherever she lived. They both began to research into what they knew, apparently there were a few Clarence family members, quite a few.

Butler looked at the surveillance camera's, all seemed good, he left to do a walk around, perhaps a good run. The rain had stopped and the fog had set in with thick masses that were practically white-outs. It proved to be a rather dull night... other than the fact he had become a father to a mouthy brat who he still didn't know the first name of. When he did get to sleep, it wasn't a good sleep, as hard as he tried he kept waking up for no reason. At one point he even got up and went to check up on her, he found her in the same position she had been when she first went to sleep, not a muscle had moved, he took off her boots and left, she didn't stir once. He closed the door behind him and went back to his room, shaking his head.

_Next morning_

Butler knocked on the dark mahogany door. Its antique designs cast odd faces in the dim morning light. He waited a few moments before opening the door. Artemis was sitting at his desk, fast asleep, his head resting on the desk and the phone off the hook. This was not the first time he had seen Artemis like this, it was becoming a routine lately. Sighing he put the breakfast on the separate table and walked over to the boy. He shook his shoulder gently until the fourteen year old was finally awake enough to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Seeing the breakfast he moaned and checked the time on his watch '7:00'.  
"What time did you get to sleep?" Asked Butler gently Artemis took the breakfast and carefully cut into the french toast.  
"5 or soon after." He started to eat and Butler left, content that at least his principal wouldn't starve to death.  
Closing the door behind him, Butler was just in time to see Beckett sliding down the rail from above, he caught him in an instant, and looked above for his brother Myles. Myles stood behind the railing holding a stopwatch.  
"Noo! You wrecked my experiment!" Butler sighed, it appeared it was going to be a pretty usual day. He put Beckett in a more comfortable position in his arms and climbed the stairs to have yet another talk with Myles about dangerous experiments... His seventh this week alone, would have to be informed, again. He already could see the smile on her face and her assurances that there really was no danger he himself couldn't handle with ease. In fact came around the corner at that moment, passed right by him on the steps with a polite nod and kind smile, she kissed the twin in his arms and went down the stairs with a bounce of youth in her steps.

Artemis remained oblivious to the chaos of outside his door and focused to the chaos within. With the launch of his submarine in one day, and counting down with any luck, he had last minute calls to make, things to do, things to hide.. His phone rang and he hesitantly picked it up after checking the line.  
"Hey, Artemis, I was just going over your budget, you were over last week, why?" Artemis sighed, having a father in the house was something he had to get used to all over again but having an unreasonable budget on the other hand, was completely different, he'd never had one before and after so much freedom, it was really hard to adapt to one.  
"And I also have your report-card here, why have you missed so many days?" Asked his father. Artemis made himself more comfortable, this was going to be one long call... he switched to headphones, for the better use of his hands and started yet another day with his father over his shoulder.

Angeline Fowl was often an underestimated woman but unlike what most assumed of her, she was pretty knowledgeable and accurate at what was going on. For instance, she knew that her husband and son were arguing over Butlers' future with the family, she knew he husbands claim to 'purifying' the family was a stress valve to some horrific memory and situation that he could not remember, but still felt the effects from and she knew that her son was in great danger after stealing from a dangerous man some called the Boss. He was the boss of a major industry in the black market. She also knew that another Butler, or at least another guard was exactly what the family required, if only Butler could find or train someone else for the rest of the family... Artemis at least had Butler but who did the twins have? Bringing in another guard would only alert her husband to the issues even she, his wife would rather he remained ignorant of. Her alternatives were simple, hire a nanny with some major bodyguard training and hide the 'nannies' training from her husband, or look to the resources she already had within the home, to tell the truth, the kids appearance couldn't be more perfect if she had timed it herself, which she sort of had.

She knocked on the door and waited. Clareson answered the door within moments, looking like she had just rolled out of bed. She was dressed in different cloths though, a blue tracksuit and her hair was freshly washed, a shock of a long pearly white mass of wet curls. "Can I come in dear?"  
She stepped aside, "Its your house isn't it?" She rubbed the sleep out of her eye as Angeline stepped into the drab room.  
"Did I wake you?" she asked walking by the bed, freshly made, then she looked around "Oh my, this is, interesting isn't it?" she had never been in the other bedrooms before so she was shocked to see them so scarce, she had no doubt that the child would make it more her own in no time though.  
"Yeah, I love all the colour, very nice." Realizing she was being sarcastic Angeline smiled.  
"Well we'll just have to pick up some paint and bedspreads then." The girl seemed shocked.  
Then suspicious, she eyed the older woman, "Okay, so whats the hitch?"  
"No 'hitch', I just want to help." There was a pause then she sighed, "So , can you tell me a little more about yourself, Im afraid we didn't quite get acquainted last night." She sat on the edge of the bed, for lack of anywhere else to sit.  
"Like what?" She seemed suspicious.  
"Well for starters.." She paused to think, "What are your hobbies?"  
"Well... I run, cross-country, I was training for the Olympics and everything, not in cross-country of course, sprinting more like it, anyways that's my hobby." She blew her cheeks out then released the air in a 'woosh'.  
"Running? Well that's nice, do you participate in any other sports?" Running was a good start, but couldn't the child have a bit more training?  
She stopped to think. "Well I took a little bit of yoga from our neighbor but I was more into the martial arts training, he was a fun teacher."  
Martial arts, now that was something to stand on. In a matter of speaking that is, it was a good starting stone to a guarding carrier.  
"Are you any good?" The girl scoffed and went to her backpack, she took out three trophies and a box of medals, all for Jujitsu from what Angeline could read as she was passed the trophies and medals. "Impressive." She nodded and placed each trophy and medal on the bed, in an orderly fashion, one by one.  
"There were more but I left most behind." She seemed proud to show off her talents.  
"We'll have to send for them then." The two got to talking and became fast friends, Angeline liked the young girl, she was opinionated and strong but also truthful, she didn't mix words or sugar-coat things, she said it like it was. They planned a shopping spree for the next day and were just in the middle of choosing tomorrow's outfit when a soft knock sounded on the door. Angeline got off the bed, straightened her skirt, and with Clareson's nod, opened the door. Butler looked shocked to see Angeline there for a few seconds then coughed into his hand.  
"I would like to have a private word with my daughter," Said Butler, moving aside for Angeline to pass by.  
"Say no more, Ill be leaving now." Angeline walked out past Butler and as Butler went in, she closed the door after him.  
"So..." He began, she didn't move from the bed, she was lying on her stomach, still holding the necklace that Angeline had picked out for tomorrow to accent the outfit. Her attention was on him though.  
"Are you still trying to send me away?" She asked before he could get out what he wanted to say.  
He sighed and came forward and sat on the bed. "Its not that I don't want you here, I do. But what I do here is not a joke." He sighed. "Yesterday was sort of shocking, I didn't know you existed before that." She raised her eyebrows at that on, but remained silent. "You can stay with me, as long as you want, but there are a few things you'll have to do, in order to stay here, a few rules." she blinked at him once. "First of all, for security reasons, no answering the mail without my having checked it first. Second no guests without introducing them to me first, and never inside the house and lastly, your attitude, it has to change."  
"Are these the only rules then?" she asked.  
"Ill make more as we need them I suppose." He sat on the edge of the bed and she rolled over and sat up. "Why didn't your mother ever mention your existence?" he asked  
"Beats me, I always figured you were just a jerk that never bothered to see us but then, we never really discussed it." She paused "Well she did discuss it once, the week you two were together, said that she understood your work and rathered the world didn't know we existed with relations to you."  
"So..." Wait, those two stories didn't collaborate... "She told you it was a mutual decision?" It was the only thing that made sense. She answered with a shrug.  
"When I first met your mother she didn't mention having kids, the eldest that was mentioned yesterday... he isn't?"  
She scoffed "Nah, hes not yours. He's the result of a guy staying at the house and one night of too many drinks between the two of them and anyway he's on the other side of the world right now, in the army." She crossed her legs in front of her and something heavy clunked to the floor from the movement. She didn't bother moving to pick it up so he did the honors, a medal, for jujitsu, it was gold plated and decidedly heavy for a metal though very plane as well, simply stating 'Jujitsu' on one side and a kid in a stance on the other.  
"Yours?" He handed it to her and she lifted tomorrows outfit and threw it with the rest of the stuff she had been showing off just moments before.  
"Yeah, I had a really good teacher for a neighbor back home." He lifted up the shirt she had just stuffed the medal under and looked.  
"Impressive." Sort of at least, compared to his sister she was a little behind in medals and accomplishments but there was time to improve if she carried the interest.  
"I have more at home, but not that many, I took all the important ones." He nodded.  
"If you want I could help you get back to training." It was a spur of the moment offer, he hadn't even thought about it, but it was also something he had done with Juliette and a few others so he wasn't knew to training kids.  
She seemed to ponder the thought for a bit then smiled. "Lets see if I'm still here in a week or so before making commitments."  
He nodded "Where could you possibly go?"  
"I dunno but you might get rid of me yet, or my brother might come back for me and I could stay with him, who knows?"  
"I won't get rid of you as long as you follow the rules and behave yourself and as for your brother, you are not staying on a ship full of men, no one would allow that." She shrugged again. Their conversation was cut short by a call, from Artemis. Butler answered the phone as Clareson rolled off the bed and started to unpack her cloths into the drawer.  
"Come to my office." He hung up. Butler hesitated then closed the cellphone, strange.  
"I have to go, but we can discuss this further tonight?" He opened the door.  
"Sure." She shrugged

Butler left and walked down the hall, Artemis Sr had two offices but he knew which one he had been referring to. One was upstairs attached to his very own bedroom, the other was downstairs, and that's the one he walked towards. Suddenly Artemis jumped out of his room, so fast it had Butlers' alarms going off.  
"Im going out." He stormed down the stairs and out the front door, the giant behind him following without hesitation. Whatever Artemis Sr wanted to say would have to wait apparently as the boy simply wouldn't listen to a word his friend had to say. When he heard that Butler was to speak with his father he took Butlers' phone and called his father himself. Butler closed the window between the front and back seat to give the boy privacy, on his own phone. Not sure where to drive, but with the simple order 'drive' he drove in the path that he usually took when Artemis was this upset.

Butler hadn't seen Artemis this upset since his father had shut down the entire plane project because they hadn't payed for the parking of the trucks for the equipment. He had been so upset then, exactly as he was now, he probably lost the sub now to, his father had figured out about their 'mishap' with 'the boss'. It had been two hours since he had risen the divider, the country road was getting hot with the afternoon sun and if they didn't turn around they would miss dinner. With caution, he pushed the button to lower the divide. What he witnessed shocked him worse than a lightning bolt on a cloudless day.  
Artemis smiled, a genuine smile. "Its complete, we launch tomorrow." He leaned forward in his seat. "And I talked to father and he no longer wishes to speak with you. It was just a trivial matter anyway."  
Trivial? Butler had known Artemis's father a long time and trivial wasn't in his vocabulary. Artemis clearly was not going to say anymore so Butler took the nearest turn and started to turn around back for home. "Oh we're not going home tonight, I want to stay as close as possible to the docks so we'll be staying at a hotel for the night."

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**Thank you's to: **

**MTZBEN - you can stop cursing the fanfiction laws that curse us all, here is a new chapter you can review! Feel free to add in any thoughts of chapter one in chapter two's review :)  
**


	3. ReWritten  3

Chapter 3

The phone rang loudly and Butler answered it before the cell phone could wake Artemis. The hotel closest to the docks had only one remaining room last night so they were sharing a room, Artemis refused to reconsider another hotel no matter how dingy this one appeared to be, And Dingy it was... He sniffed and smelt the smell of mold and fish.

"Hey its your buddy detective!" Said the detective in a voice much to cheerful for -he looked at the clock- 4 in the morning.

Butler sighed. "What do you have for me?"

"I found the Claresons'' He paused for a moment possibly for effect. "The accident wasn't five _weeks_ ago, it was five _months_ ago and there were three deaths, the parents and Im assuming the driver to be the third victim. Her first name is Selena and she is the second oldest sibling in her family which are, for the most part staying with her rich grandmother." The Detective put down a folder loudly on the other end.

"How rich?" Asked Butler walking into the bathroom so he wouldn't wake Artemis.

"Rich, her grandmother's estate rivals the Fowls'."

"Anything else?" He asked fully alert now.

"Nah, thats all that I've found so far that your looking for unless your interested in her medical history or-"

"No, that's fine." Butler said, cutting him off.

"I have a contact in Canada that lives close to where she grew up, I could-"

"Yes do that." Butler was getting impatient, he hung up the phone and came out of the small room.

Since he was already up, Butler went and started his day as usual. Yesterday Artemis had been informed of Claresons' situation, he felt it was necessary to inform Artemis of the new development as well, when he got up that is.

It was 6:30 before Butler and Artemis made their way down to the docks where, to their surprise, Clareson stood, right at the main gate, in a serious conversation with a man who was helping her off his motorcycle. He looked way too old for her and despite her tall frame was still a good foot and a half taller then her, his back was to them but they could make out large biceps and large muscled shoulders, he wore a matching jean vest and jeans, both his daughter and the _boy_ seemed in heavy conversation, and serious at that.

"What is she doing here?" Asked Artemis in a monotone voice.

"Perhaps she has come to participate in the launch." Said Butler, thinking of the information he had found out this morning, it was not very likely but what were the chances she would be here, now?

"Impossible my father forbid the launch today." He muttered. Butler grunted sometimes, just sometimes, it would be nice to be fully informed of the situation. "There is still a lot needing to be set-up." Artemis said, he had been walking towards the sub and now proceeded to unlock it and pull the lid up, Butler checked the sub out first then helped Artemis to climb down. After ensuring the sub was secure, Butler climbed out with the intent on speaking with Selena. He found instead, that she was gone. Talking Artemis into halting the launch for a few extra minutes was no easy task, especially since his father would be getting suspicious anytime now.

They found her on the outskirts of the docs. It was apparent she did not want to be followed as she kept looking around, as though expecting to have been followed. She was certainly too dressed up to merely be enjoying the scenery. She was wearing a jean skirt with tights and a bright red butterfly one-sleeved shirt, she wore a matching hat and for the first time, her hair wasn't tucked up underneath anything revealing her long white hair.

Since it was clear she was in no immediate danger, they followed, keeping out of sight, she and the boy, stopped at the coffee shop, then the ticket booth for the boats and docs, then she went into the privately owned docs and he lead the way. It was lucky that those same docs were half owned by Fowl Enterprises, for Artemis's submarine, the other half by the military, their large ship could be seen docked and loading cargo. Once there they walked straight over to a group of little kids that were sitting watching the loading, one was sitting on the guardrail, the kids were dressed more like the locals though the five-year-old looking child wore a jacket with the same symbol as yesterday's hat that she had been wearing. They started to talk, by their body language they appeared to be having a serious chat that, even the smallest kid, the five year old, was paying close attention. If only they could hear what they were saying. Artemis looked around, the docs had a few other youths, one goth boy wearing heavy eyeliner and spiky hair with a large boombox, an idea struck him.

Selena was in the middle of trying to get her point across when some jerk turned on his boombox so loud her heart leapt into her mouth. John, jumped in front of her and nearly attacked the poor boy. The boy was decked out with tattoos and a Mohawk spiked into five spikes down the center of his head, black eyeliner and punk get-up. He even had black lipstick on and was busy rocking to the beat while holding the cumbersome stereo in the other hand. Before John could start a fight, Selena pulled him away and gestured to the kids, he couldn't fight in front of the children, it would scare them. They decided to back off to a shed that looked abandoned, it held off the ocean's spray better anyways.

They didn't notice two figures sneak away as they struck up their conversation again, nor a little blackberry that was wedged between two cargo skids. They talked for a few minutes, Artemis tried to lip read -not his best skill- and they got into the conversation pretty strongly it was mostly the two older then the other two that were talking. With a hug from the group Selena was left alone at last, she watched the kids leave until the crowded docks made it impossible to see them anymore. In fact the crowds picked up so much just then, with a large group of school kids that were on a fieldtrip to see the army-boats that even Butler and Artemis lost sight of her.

The kid with the boombox chose that moment to jump behind Selena and start his music once more. She did not startle this time, instead she clocked him right in the face, grabbed his stereo and threw it over the railing and into the ocean.

"Hey!" He cried out.

"Whatcha gunna do about it?" Selena taunted. She grabbed him by the front spike on his head and tripped him to the ground with her feet. Little did she notice she was gaining some very unwanted attention.

"Your going to regret that" Called out a man behind her. She barely had time to catch a glimpse of a boot before it kicked her in the shoulder. She rolled away quickly and just barely blocked another kick meant for her midsection with her feet. She knocked the man down flat on his back then leapt to her feet. Once at her feet she turned around to gauge her opponents. To her surprise the awful punk 80's look seemed to be their style, there were ten of them and every one of them were dressed the in the exact same style.

"What are you a gang or something?" The man she had knocked down stood up with a groan, then pulled out a heavy black chain. "You do realize we're surrounded by kids right?" He did not seem to care. The teachers seemed to think they were putting on some sort of play or act because although they gave strange looks they got right down to business calling their teenaged students into lines and carrying out their business as usual.

Without much choice Selena quickly put her hair back under the cap, pulled it down securely then stood in a stance, ready for them.

Butler was not about to allow his charge into such a crowded and dangerous situation. Last he had seen Selena was saying goodbye to her boyfriend and siblings, or what he assumed to be her siblings. Assuming she would be alright for now, he went back with Artemis and helped him back into the sub. They should have already left by then, as it was now unsafe to both secure the sub, while Artemis waited outside, and secure the docks outside. Once he was inside with Artemis he hit the problem that he knew had been a major possibility, someone had entered while he had been away despite the lock. He pulled his gun out faster then the man could register its appearance.

"I know him." Stated Artemis quickly.

"Im a scientist on the project, just came to collect my equipment, see the notice right here- oh my thats a gun!" The scientist looked shocked once he noticed the gun. "When did that come out, how odd!"

"Right, Artemis stay here Ill be back." Butler said as he checked the scientist for any weapons, he also checked the scientists' bag, which was overstuffed with equipment. Without the time to be polite he emptied it right onto the floor. After ensuring there were no weapons to be found he kicked the scientist out of the sub. "You can re-enter when I come back." He knew the sub to be bomb proof and better secured then even Fowl manor so he was secure to find the kid and bring her back. He checked where he had last seen her, not a trace was left of her being there, he collected his blackberry and was just about to turn back, he'd see her tonight anyway, when he spotted a very familiar boombox in the ocean, something had transpired his every fiber said so.

Selena

Selena ran, she had stayed and fought, had taken several of them down but more and more kept joining in until finally she had to give up and run, one on one she could handle but twenty on one, that was just unfair. Something hard and sharp struck her in her shoulder, the same spot that had been kicked earlier, whatever it was it stuck.

"Alright it actually stayed in!" Called out a man's voice more teenager really. She reached over sacrificing much needed speed, to see what it was they had done, it was the spike at the end of that man's chain. The chain was off but more then four of the spikes had clung into the skin but so shallow to call it a flesh wound would be exaggerating. She pulled it out and flung it into the closest assailants' face. He let out a screech of pain and fell back into four others. Using the distraction Selena dove into a doorway rather then take the corner just feet away. The door was open and she ran right through to the other end's door and out that way. As far as she could tell she had lost them but she did not slow to find out.

She did finally slow when she saw what appeared to be an abandoned cabin, and right behind it was the man with the chain, the spiked ball re-attached to the end. She dove through a broken window of the cabin and stayed there, being as still as she could be. She watched not daring to breath too loudly as the boombox guy spoke with the chain guy, she couldn't decide which of them had the most product on, from makeup to hair gels to jewelery, a model would be jealous. She could not believe she was running from such phony people, was? -no he wasn't- yes he was, the boombox boy was wearing high-heels and not just any kind but spikes. Gah! She could not believe that she was forced to run from these guys. If it had been before, when she had been at the peek of her game, she could have kicked all their buttes! As it was she was so out of breath she was near gasping.

Finally they left, splitting up to find her. She allowed herself to breath more naturally now, which was, gasping to catch her breath.

"Tired from running ain't ye'?" Asked a man from behind her. She spun around. The speaker could not really be discerned from the shadows despite being only a few feet away.

"Im sorry sir, is this place off limits? Ill just go," She tried to step towards the door but found the guy had grabbed a fistful of her hair and kept her in place with it.

"Don't go leavin' so soon luv, those m'pack they are that you ticked they'll be wanting you back for wu'ever you'done." He spun her around to face him. He was an ugly and dirty man, with brown and yellow teeth, matching eyes and a liver problem apparent by his yellow blotchy skin. His hands on her shoulders he walked forward, she stepped back, they continued the dance until she hit the wall behind her with a loud thud a gasp was forced out of her as pain shot up her shoulder. He pulled out a knife that flipped open with a touch, it wasn't very long, about three inches at best, almost made her laugh really accept somehow it was still the scariest knife she had ever seen.

She kicked him for all she was worth, and ran for it out the door, he didn't give up so easily, even bent over in half, he clung to her ankle, bringing her down onto a pile of fishnets and rope. She dug her hand around the floor, there were lots of ropes, dead and decaying fish and even a dead, squid? Her other hand tried to pry her ankle free from his grasp. In a desperate attempt she threw the rope over her head and at him as she pried her foot free and crawled away. She was just about back onto her feet when he dove at her and hit her by the midsection, bringing her to the floor once again and him on top of her, thats when she screamed, more like a shriek, she was never good at screaming. In an instant he was off her, and hitting the cabin back wall with a crash that broke through part way, she sat up but couldn't see anything as the one light source, the door, was blocked by something, no, someone.

"Butler?" She asked. The shadow crouched down in front of her. "What are you a wrestler or something?" Seeing that she was untouched he grabbed her by the shoulder and brought her up to her feet. With her in front he left out the door. The bright light took a moment for her eyes to get once again accustomed but that did not slow him down in the slightest. He guided her to a ladder that led into -she wasn't sure what- but she crawled down anyways.

"Stay" He commanded as he turned and helped some scientist-geeky guy down.

"Um thanks." He didn't say anything, the kid was busy doing something in the corner and the scientist-geek was busy packing things into a large army-green dufflebag, his white lab coat smudged with oil and hand prints. Butler checked the room, possibly looking for something before he stopped and consulted Artemis on something. For the most part she was ignored.

Which gave her time to look around, she was in a submarine by the looks of it, three walls were pure glass showing the foggy blue waters outside, and one wall that was like one big computer that took over the entire wall. The room was about 8 by 10, not very big by her standards but was huge compared to some other submarines she was sure.

As cool as the sub was, it got boring fast when she was utterly ignored. The only time anyone even glanced her way was when Butlers' cell went off and he answered. He actually stopped looking for -whatever he was looking for- and started to talk into the phone. He spoke quickly all the while looking at her.

"Are you sure?" Butler asked.

"Positive, Selena Clareson was the third victim, died in hospital just five weeks ago. Im looking at her death report right here." Said the detective proudly.

"Right, thank you." Butler hung up the phone and stepped toward the impostor.

"Hey thanks for back there." She pointed up, to the 'surface.'

"Who are you?" Butler demanded, she jumped at the sudden malice in his voice but did not reply. "Answer me." He took a threatening step forward but was cut off by the scientist who broke in between them.

"Hey can you carry this to the surface?" He could barely lift the heavy bag. He turned to Selena.

"Hi, Im Doctor Estagio." He adjusted the bag onto his shoulder and extended a hand to Selena.

"Clareson" She ignored his hand, her arms crossed.

Butler shoved the scientist aside who stumbled into the wall of the enclosed space.

"Who are you?" He asked, his face coming closer and closer to hers threateningly.

She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as the entire floor tipped suddenly as a ship passed by, sending a strong current that threw her off balance and into him, the scientist caught his balance but somehow the doufflebag came at Butler as well. It went flying with such ferocity it would have hit Butler square in the head or Artemis behind him. Butler caught and threw the heavy bag away easily as the bag went flying from the force of the scientists' trip and the lurch. It was a reflex catch, to catch it before it hit Artemis, unfortunately the bag was over stuffed and not packed well, a sharp object had cut through and was sticking out the side that no one saw in the dim early light the water allowed through, it pierced skin and Butler made it worse by pulling it out.

For a moment no one knew what had happened, the scientist righted himself and grabbed his bag from the floor, the contents were scattered across the floor and he attempted to stuff it all back when he noticed the rip in the side, "just great" he muttered. Clareson shoved off him and backed up, looking out the glass wall to see what had caused the current, Artemis continued typing furiously.

"30 minutes to launch." Artemis said from behind Butler. "It was just a passing ship." Clareson nodded and turned around, then froze. Her eyes went wide.

Butler was bleeding from the throat, and badly. Selena was the first one to react, she stepped forward and she did the first thing she could think of, she blocked the gash with the only thing in her hands, her hands.

"Butler's hurt." she called out, Artemis stopped what he was doing, the scientist stopped moving comletely. Artemis rushed forward and helped Selena lower Butler slowly to the ground. Butler didn't have much of a choice, he was getting dizzy and the rocking ocean wasn't helping him at all. "Cancel the launch Estagio."

"Is he dead?" Asked the scientist from the corner.

"Estagio, you need to focus and help us out, this isn't a time to panic." Said Artemis. The man went to the computer and started typing away.

"See your helping already." Encouraged Selena to the scientist. She turned away, Artemis did too, Butler tried to say something, he was losing consciousness fast.

"He's nicked his jugular vein, your blocking it with your hand. Don't move a muscle blocking a nicked Jugular is near impossible if you break the seal your hand is currently making, it will be impossible to fix and he will bleed to death. Just remember not too hard, not too soft and definitely no shifting the hand, not even a twitch." She nodded her understanding. Artemis analyzed the situation with a critical eye, the wound was not bleeding very much now, in fact the flow had stopped pretty good, but that could change with anything, a flex of her finger, a passing ship's current. They needed to get him out of there but that seemed impossible without altering Butler himself and that would be deadly.

"Give me your phone Ill call for help." Said the scientist, Artemis gave him his own cell phone and he tried it. "Dead, Clareson?" Artemis frowned up at him as Selena gave him her own cell phone with her free hand.

"Dead? I charged it this morning." The scientist shrugged and attempted to use Clareson's cell but shook his head.

"Must be a dead signal down here, Ill go top side and get some help." He started to climb up.

"Wait, give us back our cell phones if their not working." Artemis said, suspiciously.

"No can do, Ill be back just stay there." He took something out of his pocket and threw it down amid the debris of the articles that had been in the doufflebag and were now all over the floor. "Actually I won't be back, I couldn't have timed this better myself, you see after your father fired me last night I had a run in with a friend of yours."

Artemis closed his eyes and groaned, of course his father would have fired someone and not mentioned it, he felt Artemis didn't need to know _anything _anymore. And with Artemis firing the only other scientist left on the project no one was about to come down to the sub anytime soon.

"He was going to give me a lot of money if I sabotaged this sub, I wonder how much he'll give me if I blow it up with you in it?" Artemis took a step forward, and the scientist pulled out a gun from his pocket.

"Look no one is going to blame you for an accident." Said Selena, trying to keep Butler down, it wasn't as easy as it sounded despite his disposition, she was trying not to add any stress to his throat. Artemis's words echoed in her head, not too hard, not too soft and definitely no shifting the hand, not even a twitch. To make it harder he was trying to move now.

"I know, it was tragic that you were all too wounded to reach the surface in time and I was the only survivor, lots of things are tragic kids, learn that at least."

"How do you know those are our only phones?" Selena asked she shifted to actually sitting partially on Butler's chest to keep him down.

"It doesn't matter, you'll never get a signal down here and besides you can't move and he'll be dead." He gestured to Artemis. Artemis's first instinct was too jump back near Butler but then an idea struck him and he jumped toward the would-be shooter instead, there was no way he could even reach the mad-mans' knees let alone the gun but that wasn't what he was going for, past the gunman was the launch mechanism, he reached it at top speed and typed like he had never typed before, a second later a mechanic voice sounded through the speakers.

"Launch sequence activated in 30.." He pushed a few more buttons '10,9,8"

"Fine by me kid," Estagio pointed the gun at Artemis and shot.

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**I apologize for the long wait and to make it up to you! Ill post the second chapter later (was tomorrow, now its later, don't kill me)! Also, I have a new beta reader! Yay!**

**I posted before my new Beta reader could give me my new and improved chapter because I figured you had all waited long enough!**

**aw Todd, you are so sweet! And fast, you must have me on a check list or something... You posted like... a few hours after I gave in my next chapter... which is amazing since I posted at 3 am, and your an anonymous... thats dedication I tell you! First off thanks for the review! Second, its been a month and I have not published a thing, this makes for killer boredom when your already on your third story, and your stuck because of one little chapter (I have a thing about posted more then one story at one time, I prefer to complete a story before continuing, this builds a loyal reader base I've learned). Thirdly, Butler was BARELY conscious at this point, I think I should change that scene to his POV... to avoid confusion, Im not one to really get into gore and pain but he is bleeding to death there... Fourthly... one sec gotta check your review again... oh yes, Whats wrong with a cliffy when you know Im going to update very soon? lol I like cliffies they remind me Im still alive and feeling if you get what I mean ;)'**

**~BloodI****nkLilacQuill**


	4. ReWritten  4

**And... Thank you to all my reviewers! I also have good news, soon I will be a published author! yay! So it is even more important to me now to hear any and all critiques and even what you love about when I write, what are my strengths? What do I need to work on? I get over one thousand hits/visitors so please, don't be shy take the four and a half seconds to write a review and help a fellow author out.**

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Chapter 4

"Fine by me kid," Estagio pointed the gun at Artemis and shot. The sound reverberated deafeningly, if Butler's reflexes hadn't been as good as they were, he would have died as Selena's first instinct was to cover her ears, he held her hand in place and when she came to her senses she ducked her head into his arm to avoid the echoes as the gun shot in the tiny space. He fired another shot right into the computer and with a sudden flash of blinding sparks, the interior went dark. A boot came out of nowhere and knocked the doctor on the head, making him drop the gun, Estagio looked to where it came from, Butler.

As injured as the man was he had still managed to get a shot in, and with no weapons - if the scientist had been anything of a fighter he would have respected that. As it was he cursed loudly, jumped down to retrieve the gun, once he found it he started to climb up the ladder as fast as he could. He had barely made it out halfway when a soft 'swish' sounded and the doors closed. "3,2,1..." There was a shifting as the entire sub was released by something unseen and sank below the sea even further.

The light grew dimmer in the murky water. "Artemis?" Selena called out. There was no reply and as Selena's eyes adjusted to the lighting she saw a form facing away from her on its side. She couldn't see any blood but then, he wasn't moving either. Butler was impossible to hold down now and refused to stay put. He crawled over to Artemis's form and turned it over, Selena barely keeping up.

Artemis opened his eyes as soon as he was moved and looked over at Butler "You shouldn't have moved." He sounded far away, his eyes barely focusing on them, then with a snap, he was back, his eyes their normal piercing-icy gaze. He sat up and took in his surroundings, he ran a hand through his hair. "Grazed." He showed blood on two fingers. "I have temporarily lost my hearing." he announced. Selena turned away from him and back to Butler who seemed drifting between consciousness, his eyes were the only giveaway that he wasn't completely there. Well that and he was lying on his back on a submarine floor.

A question nagged at her mind and she looked up at Artemis again, he had spared no time and was already at the computer. "Its down" He said loudly. He turned around and his eyes darted from Selena to Butler then back to her, shadows obscuring his face. He grabbed something, a first aid kit then came over.

"I finally found it in the fridge." He opened it, sterilizer, band-aids, he mused to himself the old saying 'a band-aid fixes everything' as he moved it all to the side, bandages, a lot of them, good. Something was thrown, a shirt from the scientists bag, it hit him harmlessly but got his attention.

"I have a question." She mouthed largely so he could see. He came and knelt beside her, looking at Butler. With the bandage he brought with him, he secured her hand in place to avoid movement and blocked the wound as best he could, which was as good as any doctor could have done in the same situation. She shook his shoulder with her free hand to gain his attention. "What is he?" She pointed down at Butler. She had never really bothered to ask why he lived in the Fowls' home, it had never really irked her curiosity but after he had saved her in the shed and now after getting attacked, well she was imagining him as an assassin or mercenary, someone along those lines, someone that killed for some sort of pleasure.

"He's a bodyguard, my bodyguard." She silently oh'd and nodded. "He doesn't have much time, I'd estimate an hour."

Artemis shook his head, her voice had echoed in his ears for a second when she had asked, as though he were underwater. "My hearing is coming back, I can almost hear you." She plugged his nose and ordered him to swallow, he did as ordered and his hearing came back in full.  
"What about you, you studied brain surgery, what's a little artery surgery to that?" Selena asked now that he could hear.  
"Who told you about the brain surgery?" He asked suspiciously.  
"I went through your room when you were gone." She said nonchalantly with a shrug.  
"What?" He couldn't believe she'd simply gone into his room, bypassed all the alarms-wait how had she bypassed all the alarms?  
"Prioritize, is this really an issue right now?" She looked him straight in the eyes and waited but he didn't reply. "I know you can do the surgery."  
"I may not have to if I can get the computer going." He got up and went to the computer. After an eternity which could have been only ten minutes he called out. "I can't get this going; he rigged it before we arrived."

"How do you know that?" Selena asked not taking her eyes off Butler. Her father had gone very pale and in the dim light it looked like his lips had turned gray or black. He hadn't come to consciousness for five minutes now and there was a light hum of shivering. Whether it was her or him she didn't know but it seemed to be everywhere she touched him.

"Because I would have noticed if he rigged it while I was here." He said snobbishly, at least in her eyes.  
"You don't have to get rude, Butler's gotten worse." He sighed like a stressed man years ahead of himself and came over.  
"Butler?" He knew he had to do the surgery himself if no help arrived soon, and everything had been sabotaged down to the air supply which read empty, so they only had the air they were breathing now, but he decided to keep that to himself. He calculated though that they had a good 6 hours.

He knew, in theory, how to do the surgery; even the best had a high risk rate including everything from losing your voice, to losing your mind to death. If there was any chance of death he wanted his friend's approval before going through with the surgery. "Butler I need you to wake up for a moment." It took a moment before Butler's eyes slowly opened and focused on him. "Help hasn't arrived yet and if you don't have the surgery soon you won't be able to, it'll be too late." He paused to lick his lips. "I know a little about the surgery, our choices are simple, I could try to do the surgery or we could wait and see if help gets here." He looked at his watch, then remembered it and all his other jewelery had been taken away by his father so that he would appear more 'childlike'. "You have about half an hour, if a little less before its too late for me to do the surgery." Butler tried to say something but they both missed it so finally he raised a hand and gave a thumbs up. It was decided.

Artemis nodded curtly and went back to the first aid kit, bandages, that was the first thing he needed. He searched for a knife but couldn't find one, found tweezers though, and sighed.

Ten minutes later he was set up, Selena had passed him a knife she had had hidden away somewhere and he had gathered everything he would need.  
He was filling a needle full of tranquilizer from the fridge when they finally broke the silence.  
"What was tranquilizer doing in the fridge?" She asked.  
"The doctor studies the creature called the Megladon and theorized that if you managed to knock one out its natural buoyancy would bring it up to about 100 meters under the surface so that you could ultimately study it better." He injected the liquid into Butler's upper arm. "That was the theory anyway." He looked at her. "By chance, do you know what blood type you are?"  
"Type O. Why?" He didn't say anything for a few moments. "Isn't a Megladon a shark? Like the biggest shark there is on record or something?"  
"A perfect match, better then I thought." He said referring to the blood type.  
"I'm not sure I can donate blood; I mean I want to, but I'm not sure I can. I'm on a lot of meds, will this screw anything up?"  
"He will need blood." Was all he said to answer her. "We'll have to chance it." He paused. "What medications?" She didn't answer. "Are these medications for any diseases?" He decided that she was making up the medications in fear of needles.  
"No, I don't have any diseases." She said.  
"I'll need your blood later then."

Artemis took a deep breath and started, there was a lot he was missing, for one a face mask, but he would have to improvise, like he had already improvised the light that shone above them, allowing him to see clearly the damage for the first time. The wound looked bad, despite Selena's efforts at stopping the bleeding. Blood had run down Butler's chest and onto the floor in little red rivers. Butler was pale, paler than he had ever seen anybody, his skin almost looked translucent or even a tinge blue.

Right, his first task was to close the wound while at the same time, removing Selena's hand from the wound. The first finger came easily but with a sickening sound that turned them both green. A squirt of blood sprayed out and Selena doubled over in a gag, Artemis jumped back in a moment of panic. He'd killed him, Butler was dead because Artemis had made a mistake. 'No you idiot,' his mind said '_he's dying because of your mistake, big difference, dying can be fixed, dead can't_'.

He came forward. "I'll need your blood now." She nearly laughed, they both did, though neither knew why. "I'll use that one." He took her arm that was still connected to Butler and for the first time in his life, drew blood. The system he had set up took exactly 3 minutes to make out of parts he found around the sub and that included sterilizing everything. He didn't have to design one, and that saved on time, instead he used a system he had studied from another genius years back. The system was simple, it drew blood from one end and sent it trough the other end, all he had to do was hook them up.  
"You may want to lie down." She ignored him and looked out the glass wall.

Artemis started talking when he got back to work, for two reasons. One, he didn't want either of them to panic again and second because he needed to talk out the procedure. "There are three things in the neck that potentially kill people when their throats are cut." He said and paused on a particular hard part before continuing, the wound was still bleeding pretty hard. "So, he nicked the jugular which is actually the better choice if he had cut the carotid artery he'd have bled to death in under a minute, but if he had cut the trachea, he'd have suffocated long ago."

"Jugular, good. Got it. Now please avoid that nasty sound again." She said keeping her face away from him and looking out the glass wall. There wasn't much to see really but it beat the alternative. Artemis kept prattling on about the surgery until she realized that only three fingers were still attached to the big guy.  
"Hey that was fast, only three fingers left." She said, cutting off whatever he had been talking about.  
"Technically your thumb is-"  
"Ya ya ya. Genius." She said cutting him off, her head was getting dizzy and fuzzy. She lowered her swarming head down and rested it on Butler's chest, it was hard to lie down and not change the position her hand was in but finally she managed it. She was watching the progress from a different angle and it really changed the entire surgery point of view, at least she thought so, her eyes drifted a little before alertness snapped them back open. "I'm getting groggy, has the wound stopped?" She looked back up, nope.

"Almost there." Artemis said, his forehead was damp with sweat but his eyes were focused, determined.  
"So how long have you known Butler? Does he even have a first name?" Artemis wiped the sweat from his brow.  
"I've known Butler since a few hours after I was born, its tradition, every Fowl gets a bodyguard from the Butler family the moment they become a Fowl."  
"So you've known him a long time then?" She asked, her eyes closing.

"Yes. His first name, you'll have to ask him about it when he gets better." There was a silence then that clearly stated 'if he gets better'. She nodded sleepily. Artemis stopped what he was doing; he didn't want to kill the girl even to save his friend, after all. He unhooked her and let her rest.

Artemis tried to keep talking, even to himself but it seemed too awkward. His head hurt too, without thinking he brought a hand up to it, blood. Both Artemis and Butler were the same blood types by coincidence, he could have hooked himself up, but he was the doctor, and you could not think right if you were the one giving blood at the same time.

He finished removing Selena's hand from the wound and promptly decided to hook himself up until he got the wound under control. He sterilized the needle that was to go into his own arm, and put it in without hesitation, then he hooked Butler back up, using the other arm this time. His eyes crossed Butler's face as he did so and he was shocked by hat he saw, Butler looked sort of, dry and crumpled, to Artemis, he looked already dead. Every crease every muscle looked shrunk in somehow.

It took a moment for him to realize why he had stopped, he was done, and there was no more to do other then bandage the wound which should stop bleeding soon.

He did so slowly, his mind drifting as he wound the bandage around and around Butler's throat, then he applied pressure, just enough to stop the bleeding, and was pleased to see that it worked like a charm. Charm, he was losing it, he needed to take the needle out of his arm before he lost consciousness. Everything was swimming around him and the room got pitch dark suddenly, he decided instead, he would lay down and close his eyes, just for a moment, then he'd take it out. The rational side was yelling something but he blissfully ignored it.

_ Butler_

Butler was vaguely aware of the two children around him, he could hear them talking but his mind only translated a few words to his brain. They discussed something about a shark, and blood types before all went dark, he heard some sort of dispute over Selena giving him her blood... he awoke seemingly a moment later to find both Artemis and Selena asleep, their heads rested against him and their bodies curled in from the cold. It was night time by appearances, Artemis had made a small light that hung above them and shed blue-white light down directly onto Butler's chest and their heads. Dry blood cracked as he flexed experimentally, neither children moved.

Although Butler was exhausted he couldn't seem to get back to rest, something was keeping him awake. He stretched, his arms going up above him as he checked the time. 'How strange,' thought Butler he was still attached to a tube that was giving him blood. His eyes trailed along the tube and... It was too dark to see much else, especially with a light blaring in his eyes and it hadn't occurred yet to ask from where the blood came from. From above came light once more as the ship moved on its way, so it wasn't night.

He could see better now and he saw the tube was coming out of Artemis's arm, he hurriedly took it out of Artemis, ignoring the part that was attached to himself. With two fingers he felt for a pulse, ignoring his exhaustion that had flooded into his every pore after he had discovered the problem. He couldn't feel past the pins and needles if there was a pulse, if there was it was faint, Artemis didn't look too well and wasn't waking up. He shook Selena awake hurriedly.

"Wake up!" his voice boomed out of him making her wince and him jump, that wasn't his voice. "Wake up." He tried to whisper, his voice rang out much louder then he intended and she turned her head away from the noise. "Selena." He tried, attempting to lower his voice, it didn't work, and it was still as loud as if he had shouted it out.  
"Hmm...What?" She said sleepily, she moved out of his reach, he sat up, surprised at the effort the simple movement took. He tried to feel Artemis's pulse again but there was still nothing, so he turned Artemis over and checked to see if he was breathing, with his watch, seconds ticked by and no moment of fog on the lens.

He shook her and kept shaking her until she was sitting up, she leaned on one arm as she looked at him. Butler tried to tell her something. "No talk..." She rubbed her eyes and looked at Artemis. She leaned forward and felt for a pulse, the way Butler was currently doing. "Ok, I gotta be honest I have never done this before." He took her hand and non-to-gently shoved her fingers into the boy's neck. "I dunno, I guess so, yeah I feel something, very slow and hard to tell. I'm guessing it's not supposed to be like that?" He didn't say anything, and not just because he couldn't talk, as far as she knew.

"Selena." He said, she winced at the volume of his voice. "Why did Artemis, have to give me blood?" It made no sense that Artemis would both do the surgery and give blood, unless she was the wrong blood type. He suspected now though, that whatever she wanted from the family, she did not need him to continue. She was up to something, he just couldn't put his finger onto it just then.

"What?" She asked looking away from Artemis and up once more at Butler.

"Why didn't you give me blood? If we really are father-daughter why could you not just give me blood?" His voice sounded accusing and it wasn't exactly the volume.

"Because we're not close enough for that, thats why." Selena said angrily, may be later she'd tell him she did give blood but at that moment she was mad that he would sound so... as if it were expected of her to give her blood.

"Since I'm free now, meaning I'm not attached to 300 pounds of sinking muscle, I can go to the surface and get help, as soon as I find a way out..." She looked around, there was apparently only one door, and it was above them in the corner. "Ok, I'll swim out and get help." She looked at him as she pointed to the port. He took her arm, his face serious.  
"Who are you?" She gasped as he yelled in her face, seemingly on purpose.  
"You really want to bring this back up now?" She tried to pull out of his grasp but even in his weakened state he was stronger then her. "Look I can leave and get help and we can discuss this later. Its not like you can jump up and leave." She reasoned.  
"How do I know you'll come back?" He demanded loudly, his voice boomed and echoed.  
"Because I didn't leave when you got hurt or when that whack-job started firing on us or even when your throat did that disgusting sucking sound and I nearly threw up, that's how." She struggled out of his grasp and he finally let her go.

"I'm a champion swimmer, I can be out in the time it takes to open." She said, massaging the arm he had grabbed, it felt bruised now, and it was the same arm she had saved his life with, miserable life as it was. "We'll have help in a matter of minutes." He nodded once and she got to her feet and made her way to the door. She wasn't sure how the door opened or closed, it didn't look like the typical submarine door she had seen in movies but she went to the door to see if she could open it anyway. The door had a lightening bolt shape that locked the two sides together in an airtight manner. Being a powered door it was logical that the door would only open if the power was on, which it wasn't. She was about ready to give up there and try something else when something caught her eye.

Before then she had thought it was only her imagination that the floor was tilted but from the door, something was blocking it and a stream of water was trickling in and traveling across the roof and down the wall, there was a good puddle at the corner, steadily growing the whole time. It wasn't fast enough to cause any problems, in fact in all the time they had been down there it was only a few inches at its deepest point and only an estimated foot and a half long and wide across the floor.

She climbed up higher to get a good look at it, it looked like a strip of thin cloth, a shoe, it was the side of the scientists' shoe, it must have gotten caught as the door closed and he yanked his foot out, unless he was trapped on the other side which terrified her for a moment before she realized that was ridiculous. She dug her nails into the slit and pried with all her might. The door felt exhaustively heavy and as soon as it parted there was a strong torrent of water that tore her grasp away and sent her to the floor in a crash, water poured for a second drenching her then stopped.

She sat for a second to make sure it was all over before she got back up, she had injured her ankle in the fall, she didn't even notice until she stood back up. _'I need something to block the door.._.' She thought, her eyes found an office chair in the corner, she didn't ask why there was an un-anchored chair in the corner in such an expensive sub, she just grabbed it, and put it under one arm. She wrung out her hair, slightly redundantly but the less weight the better in her eyes, and climbed back up the ladder carefully. Her ankle throbbed and she only realized at the top that she had skinned her knee through her white tights. It was a bit bloody through the fabric but it didn't hurt, and even if it did, that wasn't her main worry.

"Hey, is Ireland known for its sharks?" She asked, getting ready for attempt number two. No answer, of course. She tried the door again, getting the door open a good half foot before she crammed the chair in and jumped through with the rushing air that exploded out. The chair barely did its job and she wasn't fully out before a snap sent the chair into pieces down and up with the rushing air and water current, closing the door again now around her waist.

She nearly let out her air as she felt she was being crushed alive, her hands flailed for a few seconds in shock and pain then found the doors and tried to pry them open. She reamed and pried but she could barely open them enough not to crush her to as she had felt she had used up all her strength, two powerful unseen hands held the doors open wide enough for her to escape. She pulled herself out and kicked off, letting the door seal properly this time. She wasted no time heading to the surface, the last of her air spent she was still pretty far.

Butler held Artemis cradled in his arms, protecting him as best he could, there was no surface to put the kid onto accept the lone chair which was busted up in pieces floating all around the room. The water had come up to a good three, almost four feet so although he was tired he couldn't very well put the unconscious boy down. The launch had occurred early, although the test launch was supposed to occur half an hour before they had launched, the official launch was not supposed to be for another half hour after they launched. The chairs were set to come in just minutes after their arrival, they sat, once installed, a good four feet above the ground. After some careful and deliberate searching he managed to find the seat of the chair, still relatively intact except for one leg that was missing and a large crack down the seat, the back was gone and smashed all around. Slowly and with deliberate effort he shifted to the broken seat, with little choice otherwise and sat to wait, hoping he had judged the girl right.


	5. ReWritten  5

**So this is the last of my rewritten chapters, next will be a completely new chapter! From now on, the chapters will be updated about once a week, give or take depending on life. Also depending on reviews, this is not blackmail, just fact sometimes**** I lead a **** busy life where I have to weigh what I do against how many people are looking forward to it, whereas other times I have lots of time and can just write as I want to and I don't care how many read it.  
**

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Chapter 5

Butler was just in the twilight of rest, nearing more the dawn of waking then sleep. His mind wandered around in memory in a flowing manner, how long had he been asleep? It felt like hours and hours, why had he slept so late? The last thing he remembered... breakfast last week, his finding out he had a daughter... the sub. It hit him, where was Artemis? He was just about to jump up, afraid he'd be seeing a downed Artemis floating nearby face down, instead he found he was in his room at the manor.

He took in the familiar surroundings, the wall of weapons, the dresser, everything left right where he'd left it neatly and tidily put away. Everything but a few chairs that is, it seemed someone had been sitting by his side not to long ago and hadn't put the chair back, perhaps planning to come back soon.

The door was open a slit and he could see Artemis and his father speaking in hushed tones. Still exhausted he decided to get back into the bed, having also noticed Juliet's purse on a chair in the corner. He had just lain back down when the door opened and in came Artemis, both junior and senior. Still in quiet whispers, senior seemed to be leading the way but neither of them gave him a glance as he sat up and watched this spectacle.

It seemed like he really had something to say and it was beginning to become clear to Butler now what it was. Artemis rushed in front of his father faster then he had ever seen the boy move before, which was something- he had seen Artemis run for his life after all. Artemis spoke, practically frantic, or at least as frantic as the boy could be while remaining his cool and dignant self. "I get it, no I really do. He was a good friend, a bodyguard, been with you all your life. Then he died and now, you can't cope. You lost your Butler and now you want everything that reminds you of him gone and never seen again because it all reminds you of him. That's how you want to deal with your grief and as a man, you have the right to do so. But as a father, as MY father, you can't send away Butler simply because you feel guilty over killing his uncle and expect me not to retaliate. I pay his wages, and I feel I still need him, his employment is none of your concern now."

Artemis Fowl senior pointed to the man lying still in the bed. "This has to do with cleansing, with a fresh start. I will purge the evil out of our family and we will start anew with good energy and karma. I'm getting rid of him whether you pay his salary now or not, you'll see, with no support from me, he'll eat away every penny you have and when your broke, he will leave you; and then you too will be purged both of Butler and the cash you have stolen and conned from so many people."

"Butler is asleep right now, and Butler would never leave." His son said he sounded both insulted and scandalized, and then addressed an even worse insult. "And I will never go penniless. I will always have ideas and schemes to make money off of."

"You don't get it do you? I'm cutting you off, completely, from now on you are paying for your own clothes, your own rent- oh yes there'll be rent now!" He said cutting off his son's objection. "Even your own Butler, everything, right out of your bank account. I'll be watching you, and I'll have the government watching you so if you suddenly sprout any major money your Butler will be guarding you from A DETENTION CENTER!" He made no attempt at being quiet now, the injured man just feet away was well forgotten in his mind despite being the object of both their attentions.

"Father!" He gestured to the injured occupant of the bed and his father blushed and mumbled an apology for shouting so rudely to which end, his eyes went to the occupant for the first time in the whole discussion, his face said it all and Artemis didn't have to turn around to know that his friend was again conscious.

Selena was enjoying making salad with Juliet. She liked the girl and already considered her alike to a sister- despite only a weeks bonding they had so much in common it was hard not to like each other. Juliet was happy to have another member in the family. She mentioned that their father, Selena's grandfather, was alive and living but they weren't very close, which Selena could understand. They were both giggling and in the midst of a light salad fight when Angeline came down, she smiled at them before looking under the table.

"Have you seen the twins?" she asked.

"Upstairs, just saw them myself, their in the kids room." Selena said with a smile. Angeline had made it Selena's responsibility to check on the kids once an hour and also learn what she could from Juliet and, when he was better, Butler. Worming her fathers' first name out of anyone was a task all its own, one she had assigned herself, and the twins into finding out. It just seemed no one knew it and those that did never spoke it.

Angeline smiled, satisfied. "That's good, a new shipment of groceries is coming in and I don't want them in its way." They didn't have to prepare for much, the shipment of groceries came three times a week and the driver brought it all in himself and even tried every week to put it away to which he was always thanked but denied.

"Where's the big man?" he asked as he came in. He was a slovenly looking man, pot-belly, balding-black hair, unshaven but without a beard or mustache, smelly, with his own personal cloud of bugs following in his wake. He was the epitome of the word slovenly and Angeline insisted that whatever he touched was washed the moment he left. This was Selena's third time meeting him and he always asked the same question.

"Upstairs." Selena answered, taking a heavy box and passing it to Juliet. He nodded.

"Tell him I said hi would you?" How they knew each other no one knew, not even Artemis when they could find him away from her father's side. The driver left with a wave, a dark cloud following him out the door ominously. Angeline wiped everything down as Juliet and Selena put the rest of the groceries away.

"I'm sorry for all the work girls; we did have a cook and maids to help with this sort of stuff." Said Angeline suddenly as she finished cleaning.

"Where'd they all go?" asked Selena. Juliet pinched her lightly.

"They were fired last week, at least the last of them."

Selena decided not to ask any more questions and heed Juliet's pinches.

Artemis couldn't bring himself to look Butler in the eyes, instead he sat in the chair closest to the bed, his father left and closed the door behind him.

"My father is suffering depression, amongst other things. I think Holly only made matters worse despite all our best intentions. My father has been declining, mentally at an accelerated rate. I can assure you your position is not in question, however your Christmas bonus will probably be a thing of the past for this year."

It was a joke meant to relieve the tension but it didn't do its job. Artemis found he just couldn't face Butler, let alone look to his face to see his expression. "Selena has made her home here." Artemis seldom resorted to changing the subject but in this case, he felt justified, in his mind Butler wasn't going anywhere and the problem was solved. "Angeline...mother, has given her the responsibilities of the twins and helping Juliet with surveillance." He stopped short, finally looking at Butler; he was not surprised to see his face as expressionless as ever. "Ill let you rest now."

"How long have I been out?" Butler asked before Artemis could leave. He was shocked to hear his voice resound around the room like a boom-box on max.

"Nearly two days, we kept you sedated yesterday for another surgery to correct your voice but it was canceled." Butler knew Artemis enough to tell that his father had canceled the surgery, he didn't have to ask as it was written clearly across the young boys face. "I'm afraid your voice may be permanently this way."

Butler accepted this with little grudging, at least he was alive, and between the two he would take that option.

Artemis got up and left after a moment of silence. Butler barely waited for Artemis to close the door before he left the room and went to the washroom.

The first thing he intended to do was to take a nice, hot shower. When he saw a glimpse of his image he barely registered the crisp bandaging on his throat, the stubble on his face and head, he shaved, careful to keep the bandage clean before opting for a bath instead. Then he went into Selena's room after dressing in a sweat suit. If this girl was going to get close to the Fowls and his sister, he wanted to know more about her.

He was surprised by her room. It had Christmas lights strung around the ceiling with colourful paper-lanterns hanging down. The walls had been painted a soft French yellow and the furniture sanded and painted different colours as well. The bedding was a country patch-quilt that was obviously made specifically for Selena as it had 'Jujitsu' and 'Selena' hand embroidered across, the latter being in large Gold bold print across the center. There were also other things embroidered, a dog, a swimming diver and a 'Leo' star-sign.

The room looked both chaotic and organized, it looked unsophisticated, materialistic, it looked... like a fourteen-year olds' room. He went through the dresser finding nothing out of the ordinary, just clothes and jewelery. Hanging along the wall in display were all of her medals and trophies which he checked and found nothing wrong with. He opened the large French wardrobe and found a million and one purses and hats, all hanging neatly on hooks which lined the inside. It would take him forever and a day to check all those purses! Sighing, he got to work.

The door opened suddenly and with no warning. In came Juliet. "I already checked those if she's hiding anything it must always be on her person."

Butler stood up, hanging the purse back where he had found it. "Can't be too careful."

"You should rest; tomorrow I'm going out shopping." She turned and left, fully aware that he wouldn't be going back to bed now. Instead he followed her out and went into the kitchen behind her. Selena was no where in sight though.

"She's taking care of the twins." Said Angeline, coming out of the walk-in freezer. "Would you mind helping me out?" Butler lifted up a large slab of meat, the size of a butchered grown pig, and started helping put the groceries away.

The rest of the day, which was only a few hours, was spent checking the area; he'd been out a long time and needed to catch up on lost time. He counted himself lucky that Horace or any of their other enemies, hadn't heard of the incident and decided to attack while the guard was down.

Butler intended the next day to be like any other, he planned on running 10 miles just after preparing the families breakfast before facing the day's security detailing. But the routine stopped cold as he walked into the kitchen, Selena was cooking, French toast. A pile of French toast was already on the table, syrup placed carefully beside it.

He still didn't quite trust her so he took an apple instead, while she took two pieces for herself and ate like a ravenous wolf. The toast didn't stand a chance and disappeared almost as fast as it appeared on the plate.

Selena was wearing a dark blue track suit and a ball cap with her hair tucked up beneath it, not a wisp of her hair could be seen. She already had her shoes on and it looked like she was more ready to start working out than to cook. "Help yourself," she said around the last bite, then jumping up, washing her plate and towelling it dry before searching for where she had originally found it. Selena smiled as she found it, put the plate away and left as though she had a busy schedule to fulfill, what on earth could she be rushing for? The twins ran into the room, their faces already full of syrup. They took another two slices each, poured on half the bottle of syrup and ate noisily in the corner, talking in their private language.

Sighing inwardly Butler took two slices, carefully checking for poisons and made a breakfast for Artemis, who was undoubtedly already up and working on designs to fix and, even better, the sub.

Once at Artemis's door, Butler knocked and came into the room. Artemis sat in his large black office chair, hands templed, eyes dark and lights half on. In a single movement he pushed a button on the computer, as though he'd been waiting for Butler to come in, which he probably had.

"I'm...I'm coming to get you Artemis Fowl." The voice was full of white noise and hard to make out. "You'll regret ever turning them in..." A laugh then covered the white noise momentarily sent shivers Artemis's spine. "YOU MISSED ONE!" The hysterical voice was cut short by the dial tone but the message was clear. Well at least it was clear he didn't know his 'friends' had escaped.

"It's Benji, he escaped the institution," stated Artemis. Yes it had to be, only one person had that maniacal laugh that even raised Butlers' hackles. They had had a few run-ins, him and Butler on the same team. The guy was a great gunman, the fastest person Butler had ever seen. He never missed his target from any distance and he used anything necessary to kill who he deemed he wanted dead. Under normal circumstances he would- no he couldn't think that way, he couldn't do much, he had to act normal.

"Oh I nearly forgot, my father is having renovations done and will be having a crew inside the house in a few hours." Artemis said this without looking up, without even further acknowledging him. He was busy with designs again; the call was apparently low on his list of worries.

Butler was walking down the hall when movement at the window caught his attention. It was Selena, she was running, down and around the garden, she seemed to be doing laps at a pretty fast rate and didn't slow at all for the few minutes he watched her.

She had just crossed the roses and turned the corner when Butler seemed to come out of nowhere; she stopped abruptly so as to avoid smacking into him, before checking her time. 20 seconds slow she cursed.

Butler cut her off before she could finish the obscene verse. "There will be no cursing, or swearing in this house, am I understood?" He barely noticed his voice coming out in a booming yet low yell. Selena didn't say anything, she just watched him as though watching a creature at a zoo. After a moment of them both analyzing each other Butler spoke up. "Why did you lie about the accident?"

"Inquisition and berating all at the same time?" She said as she laughed while stretching her hamstrings casually.

"Don't try to avoid the question. I want to know why did you lie about when the accident took place?" He asked again. He'd given it some thought and decided the lie simply didn't make sense. It wasn't exactly a security breach, and 'fibbing' about when her parents died really only changed when they had died and nothing of anyone's present situation. At the same time he could not tolerate a kid that just lied about things for the apparent fun of it.

"Probably because 'her mother died five weeks ago and your daughter needs a father now' sounds so much better then 'her mother died five MONTHS ago and no one in the bloody family wants her. So here's your left over's'." She said raising her voice only just above disrespectfully. A lesser man, a lesser father, would have laughed at her referring to herself as 'left-over's' luckily for them both, he was that better man.

"You are hardly 'left-over's'." He started with the smaller of the issues.

"You don't know what you're talking about." She turned away for a moment. She turned back, a new determination sweeping over her features. "Look," she looked more serious now and even stopped stretching. "I know you didn't exactly know I existed, and I know this is sort of a shock to you but don't worry about it, you won't have see me for very long, another six months and I'll be out of your hair" She visibly looked at his lack of head hair before turning away to continue on with her running.

"What happens in six months?" He asked, keeping up with her easily. She winced at the volume of his voice.

"Is it genetic?" She said changing the subject.

"What?" He was baffled.

"Your hair, or lack of it, is it genetic?" She sped up slightly, he kept up easily.

"No," He said curtly, trying to get back to what was going to occur in six months.

"Was your father bald?" She asked innocently.

"No!" He stated exasperated.

"Then why are you-"

"I CHOSE to be" He ran up ahead. She sped up to his side and bypassed him, he sped up but stayed by her side, he didn't want to race her- he wanted answers. "So what happens in 6 months?" He asked again. To avoid the question she broke into a full out run as fast as she could go, to her surprise he kept up pretty well and seemingly pretty easily for a man that was supposed to be recovering still. "Answer me." His voice demanded and even scared the birds out of a nearby tree.

"My brother's contract runs out in 6 months and he's going to come home and raise me until I reach of legal age, we'll work at a factory job together." He remembered something about her oldest brother being in the military. A factory job, was she kidding?

"Where is he now?" He asked, she gave him a glare and stopped.

"Why?" She looked at his suspiciously. Clearly she had picked up on where this conversation was going.

"You are not staying with your brother and a ship of men." He stated as though it were already made a fact.

"Why! Why are you yelling at me? What have I done that you are yelling at me for?" He didn't say anything, in truth he hadn't even noticed he'd been yelling. He stopped running for a moment. Selena ran on and he didn't bother trying to pursue, he'd gotten all the answers he wanted for now. He barely noticed her dash inside as he saw Juliet come out.

Selena made straight for her room, only once inside did she take off her hat and take the small pill dispenser out as she fumbled for a bottle of water from the case under the bed. Carefully she took out the pre-organized pills and swallowed them all in one gulp, then took some water to help wash them down, she frowned at the near empty dispenser though, she didn't have an extra reserve of the drugs like usual. When she had left she had only grabbed bare essentials. It was only her brother's thinking to grab the medals and a photo album or two.

Meanwhile Butler had just gotten out of the shower, a towel was wrapped around his midsection and he padded down with bare feet. He came just in time to see his cell phone was going off in vibration mode. He answered it quickly.

"Hey! Finally! It's your buddy detective! Say I heard about the sub, too bad but luckily they managed to bring it back up eh? Freak accident the report said." Butler was just about to ask why he was calling again when he started speaking. "I faxed those medical records and information to you a few days ago, did you get them?" Butler was shocked, how could he have forgotten the phone call? How could he have forgotten that the daughter that was supposedly his, was in fact dead? Butler looked beside the phone at the fax. While he was gone the machine had been quite active, paper had filed out of the fax machine untouched to form a large neat pile.

"Yeah I got them." His own voice made him tense, he would have to adapt to this.

"Great! Well I've got to go, how are you by the way?" The detective listened for a second as the dial tone rang loudly in his ear before he too hung up.

Butler took the papers in his hand and sat on the side of his bed. He'd barely managed to get past the front page when a crash from upstairs sounded and he immediately ran to investigate.

He ran towards the sound but he was shocked to discover it was Fowl Senior and the two renovators, trashing Artemis' room. Artemis himself was apparently still downstairs colouring with his little brothers and was likely unaware of the situation.

"What are you doing?"

"Purging Butler, I'm purging." His eyes were red rimmed and pale pink where white was supposed to be and they had a mad look about them that had Butler sensing danger.

"Leave." The renovators could tell the larger man was unhappy and quickly made an escape leaving Artemis senior to handle the over-sized guard.

Artemis senior watched them go; leaving their equipment behind, including a hatchet which he had in his hand already and proceeded to hack at the ancient antique writer's desk. Butler grabbed the hatchet from the man and pried it easily out of the Fowl's hand.

"That is enough; you are going to hurt yourself." As a rule, trashing Artemis's room was not in Butlers' contract to prevent, in fact it was considered none of his business, but Fowl Senior endangering himself was his business.

"I'm ordering everything in his room burned, he can have a mattress on the floor and that's all. I want it all gone." Artemis senior seemed to be losing his fire pretty quickly, he started slumping and Butler half carried half helped him up to his room, all the while he muttered lower and lower "Nothing but a mattress"

"Nothing...nothing" He said as Butler helped him into bed and pulled the blanket over him. He left the room concerned both for the man and his outcome for his actions.

Artemis ascended the stairs holding a picture delicately both twins had made it for him, it was a drawing of a fairy because they knew that he liked fairies. How they knew was beyond him. When he asked they simply said "Doesn't everybody like fairies?" He smirked at their deduction, that if they liked something, everybody must like it.

He didn't even realize he was smiling until he looked up and the smile left his face. The door to his room was half unhinged and hung out from the door frame and ajar. Even though he couldn't see into the room he knew it was trashed. Random papers, no not random papers, plans littered the floor crumpled and torn up as careless feet trampled and ruined them. He walked up to the door and opened it. Artemis had never considered himself particularly materialistic, he knew he could just replace anything that got destroyed. Seeing his room in shambles didn't bother him very much, the invasion of privacy, he should have seen that coming and he scolded himself for not. What really bothered him was that he now knew, without a doubt, that his father was truly losing his sanity.


	6. New Chapter

_Butler_

Butler walked down the stairs at last. He had been ordered, _ordered_, to check every nook and cranny of Mr. Fowl's room before he was _dismissed_. He had managed to call his sister and tell her to guard herself around his supposed daughter but then Mr. Fowl had taken his phone and of all things, smashed it against the wall. Of course Butler could have stopped him but he had a feeling his job was on the line (not that that would have stopped him anyway) he also did not stop because he felt it was important that he not upset the man anymore then he was already upset.

Butler made time as he descended the stairs but standing at the base of the stairs was a very worried Mrs. Fowl wringing her fingers. "Butler! At last, I was hoping to discus something with you."

"I have an urgent matter to see to but I will get back to you on that." He said civilly to her.

"Well its about your daughter." Angeline said. He stopped cold. What had Selena done? And how bad was it? "I want you to know something," She paused making him turn to face her when what he really wanted to do was go hunt down Selena before she harmed someone. There was no doubt in his mind that she was an impostor now. "I was the one to call her." She said at last. For almost any other person, it would have been a dramatic pause but for Angeline, it was just her way to pause just then and leave him gaping for more words as only she could.

"What do you mean?" He asked at last, seeing that she was not about to explain any further.

"Well when I heard she was going from family to family, and no one wanted her, I contacted her, as a friend over the internet, she had been asking around for you, saying that she'd never even met her father. It was me that told her where to find you. I was going to tell you but she just showed up so quickly I did not get the chance." Angeline explained all this very carefully and with a sympathy in her voice he was unaccustomed to hearing from her.

"You just took her word for it that she was my daughter?" Butler said, he could not believe she had been so stupid sure her intelligence wasn't at 200 but she should have known better.

"Its not what you think, this is no trick." Angeline explained "I kept tabs on her since her birth, I knew she was yours so I watched over her, just checking in every now and then as discretely as possible."

"You knew I had a daughter and did not tell me and how and why would you know something like that?" Butler said, he felt his voice raising so he stopped to keep himself in check, this made no sense now and the more he learned the more it did not make sense.

Angeline seemed stunned, "I kept tags on all of your lovers should they have children from you so that I could adjust your pay accordingly." Angeline said, then an expression crossed her face, one of utter shock. "You mean you didn't know? I assumed that you did." Then her face changed, hardened. "How am I supposed to know how you Butler raise your kids, I never see any Butler children running around, I just assumed you wanted to protect her."

"Your wrong, my daughter died a month ago in the hospital, this girl is an impostor." Butler said, he had gone over the facts and the only way this made logical sense was if she had killed his daughter, had plastic surgery to look like his daughter and then came here.

"No she survived the car crash, I even visited her at the hospital once." Angeline said, a frown growing on her face.

"And when was that?" Asked Butler.

"About three months ago." Angeline's shoulders drooped and she shook her head. "You have to talk with her I cannot tell you what is going on but I know that she is no impostor."

"I will find out soon enough." Butler went to walk on but Angeline grabbed his arm.

"What will you do with her?" Asked Angeline.

"Im going to speak with Selena and find out the truth, one way or another." He said.

_Artemis_

Artemis was standing outside his father's door, he had been called in by their private line, five minutes ago, his father probably knew he was standing there, the rooms were too close to take five minutes to get to. It was a battle of wills, should he call Butler and appear the coward to his father or just go in and risk whatever else his father had in store for him. Suddenly the choice was taken from him as the door swung open, a half-hazard father stood, his glass eye askew in his head looking, impossibly to the side but his good eye looking hard at Artemis.

"Playing the coward boy?" Boy? His father never called him boy. "Get in here." He grabbed Artemis by the collar of his shirt and dragged him inside.

_Juliet and Selena_

"Don't trust her, be on your guard, keep her with you until I get there." Butler had explained no more over the phone and had not awaited a response before hanging up.

Juliet was just putting her phone away from Butler's odd phone call. She and Selena were babysitting the twins. Selena was great with the kids, was she too great? She tried to see what Butler had seen, had he learned of something?

"Selena lets go for a walk, the kids are old enough to be left for a moment of two." Juliet said with a false smile. Selena nodded and followed her out. But once out, the door had barely closed before Juliet had attempted to knock Selena unconscious using the sleeper hold in a surprise attack. To her surprise Selena was a fighter she slipped right out of the hold and managed to kick Juliet in the nose. Juliet was unaware of Selena's training and now saw her Noobie mistake, she had assumed that the slender younger girl simply could not fight.

They broke apart and looked at each other, both ready to either pounce or deflect the next attack but neither making the next move.

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**You know, I feel like I was writing a soap opera rather than catching all the feelings and drama of this chapter, is that just me? To many corny phrases or something, I dunno... I had to literally sneak the time in for this chapter as for reasons unknown my sister has been dogging my tail for four weeks now, not giving me a single moments peace! And more importantly, not allowing me to even look at my computer. You ppl have been waiting long enough that this pitiful excuse of a chapter is not quite the size to make it up and for that I apologize but it is the best I can do with the time given.  
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**Anyways I do apologize for the late update, the next chapter is currently in the making and will be out on Sunday.**


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